I was flipping through stations on the radio, when I came across a song which I can't get out of my head, I don't know the name but it went something like this;"Brass monkey..beat beat...funky monkey...beat beat...funky,chunky monkey....beat beat...brass mokey", or something like that

You're probably thinking of "Brass Monkey", by the Beastie Boyz, a song about three Brooklyn kids getting drunk, and trying to get to laid. The Beasties, of course, first topped the charts way back in 1986 with "You've Gotta Fight...For Your Right...To Party"

Speaking of fighting, if any of you f__heads on this board contine to talk sh__ about me, and call me bitter and vicious, I"ll send a f___ing suicide bomber to your house. I've got the connections!

By the by, did anyone else realize that Scott must not have read many Discworld novels (since I hardly believe he would resist the juicy reference just waiting for us all)?

--> If ANYONE in the discworld novels ressembles The Great Scott McCloud, it must be Ponder Stibbons, the High Tech Geek that is really years ahead of its time and the only Wizzard to be able to apply for "Genius" as a middle name

Also noone mentioned The Monkeys, America's answer to The Beatles. ... They were the first real produced-out-of-nothing band (The producers just put some guys together then gave them music to play and organised the whole hype!)

Apparently they must have been thinking: "monkeys" make things sell!

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Some references everybody missed:
Also noone mentioned The Monkeys, America's answer to The Beatles. ... They were the first real produced-out-of-nothing band (The producers just put some guys together then gave them music to play and organised the whole hype!)

The band was the Monkees as opposed to MonKEYS (just like it was Beatles rather than BEEtles). And despite being the "pre-fab four", and not "real" musicians, they actually managed to record a handfull of pretty good songs. And that dopey TV show of thiers could be pretty funny and trippy some times. Smoke a fatty, and rent their movie Head. Jack Nicholson wrote the script with the band in the midst of a hallucenic haze, and it shows. How else can you explain the band trapped as danderuff in the hair of actor Victor Mature (as himself)

BTW Did any one hear the news? Monkey Town's retired, reputed mob boss, "Cappo di Tutti Scemmias", Joey Bananas, is "morto". Services will be held at the Darwinist Church on Rhesus Blvd and Mangabey Ave.

Not to question the infallible Scott, but does anyone else feel Monkey Town has been hanging around quite a while?

Hrm. Just for perspective, it's good to remember from time to time that he doesn't *have* to devote an hour of his life every day to making comics that he then gives us for free. He's doing this to get himself writing, as well as for the benefit of readers. And that former purpose may reasonably be more important on his end.

That aside, I think the question of what "quite a while" means needs to be taken in context. "Zot" has gone on for quite a while, even counting only "Hearts and Minds." None of these improvs have come anywhere near it. Is that a complaint against Zot?

I think instituting a time limit--whether formally or at the vague prompting of the public--would miss the boat. The absolute length of a story matters far less than that the length be appropriate to the story's arc. "Hearts and Minds" has a lot more plot than "Man-Eating Shoes," say. Naturally it goes on much longer.

The improvs' arcs have been (happily) variable. But the longest of them to date haven't been so long in absolute terms: Proto, Meadow, Parallelogram. The bare plot details of any of these could be summed up in twenty seconds. That's fine, if that's what strikes the author. But if people start agitating (simply on the basis of time passed) for the end of a piece like "Monkey Town," which has studiously avoided developing any real plot at all, I get worried that Scott will start to listen.

I would say, in fact, that the improvs in general are in some danger of establishing a pattern of short length, and consequently, simple plot--and that Monkey Town, functioning on the level of goofy parody, is arguably a sign that Scott is already suffering from some unspoken rules. Who says these have to be short projects, just because they're executed in short doses?

Listen to me. I started by cautioning people against complaining, and now I'm doing it. Well, to be clear, I like Monkey Town. And I'll pretty much read whatever Scott hangs up to be read. I'm just noodling about general trends, and suggesting that it might be as much or more fun for us and for him as well if he dove into a more involved piece, even though--almost necessarily--he might have no real idea where it were headed.

Not that I want to pressure Scott to do that, either. It's an example. My point is precisely that we should probably not be lobbying to hard for a writer to tailor his unpaid projects to our tastes. Or attention spans.

The band was the Monkees as opposed to Mon KEYS (just like it was Beatles rather than B EE tles). And despite being the "pre-fab four", and not "real" musicians, they actually managed to record a handfull of pretty good songs.

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Posted: Wed May 15, 2002 3:27 pm Post subject: Monkeys? Not so many after all....

The "Giant Floating Monkey Head" is a baboon's head. The rest are apes or gorillas or something like that, or more likely aliens, since they don't act or look a whole lot like terrestrial (or arboreal, as may be) simians.

Baboons are one of the truly evil animals. I support Mr. McCloud in his use thereof.

And I see that now that Joey Bananas is dead, Monkey Capone is the NEW top crime boss in Monkey Town._________________"Park the beers, and grab the smiles. It's flight time." - LtCdr. J. Robert "Bobby" Stone, USN (R.I.P.)

I have been trying to hold off comment on Monkey Town until it was done. Seeing as we are on the third page on this forum and the story is nowhere near done I will make a mid-comic review ...

I like it. It is cute and funny. I know I will enjoy it more as a whole piece than the segmented versions so far. The art is cool. There is a colorful story and set of characters as well as the art. It feels like I picked up a real, early Image style (with bright digital colors), gloosy comic book (except with monkeys). Good to see a cool sci-fi comic from Scott McCloud again.

Like Greg Stephens, I took Fett101's comment like it was hanging around McCloud's head before the suggestion for Morning Improv. Well, has it, Scott? As for length, take your time Scott, just as long as you do not run the monkey jokes into the ground._________________

...who once said he'd done the "Destroy!!" one-shot comic in order to get the superhero-action stuff out of his system, so he wouldn't be tempted to play "king of the hill" with Jack Kirby in this area. Apparently, he did not entirely succeed.

Could it be that "Monkey Town" is a message from Scott's subconscious, to the effect that when it comes to superhero art he still has a...MONKEY ON HIS BACK!